Tahoe League race season opens at Boreal

Provided to the TribuneTrevor Chan of Heavenly Ski Foundation finished 10th in a Tahoe League boys' 11-12 slalom race recently at Boreal.

Boreal Resort hosted the first Tahoe League Race of the 2010 season with nearly 350 athletes competing over the holiday weekend.

Teams from around the Tahoe Basin ages 7-18 are allowed to participate in Tahoe League until they earn top a top-10 finish in a USSA, Far West race. The snow conditions (packed powder) were ideal for building confidence in the young racers.

“The kids looked confident as they went over the pitch. There weren’t any ruts or icy spots; they just went for it,” said Heavenly coach Lacey Leonard.

On Saturday, the 11-and-older athletes raced with Squaw taking first and second in the boys’ 11/12 class. Domenic Salvo ran away with top honors (1:24.61), teammate Tyler Abramson was second (1:32.33) and Alpine Meadows’ Luke Edwards took third (1:35.43). Heavenly’s Trevor Chan and JD Buchholz cracked the top 15 with a 10th- and 12th-place result, respectively. Teammate Joe Fry finished 22nd.

“I was pretty impressed that both Sams not only placed but completed both runs without disqualification … that’s really good for their first race and in slalom,” said HSF coach Raquel Norton. Samantha, also known as the other “Sam,” placed 19th in the girls’ 13/14 class.

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On Sunday, nearly 200 athletes compete with nearly half the field competing in the 9/10 age classes. Heavenly’s Nick Fischer made the boys’ top 10 with a seventh-place finish, while teammate Madison Idson landed on the podium with a third (1:19.83) in the girls’ division behind Alpine duo Sabrina Haechler (1:14.66) and Lyla Sax (1:17.21).

The Tahoe League racers meet again for another slalom race at Alpine Meadows on January 23.

Leupp, Lambres lead Sierra team

Sierra-at-Tahoe also competed at Boreal. The following are the combined time results and finishes for the members of the Sierra-at-Tahoe Ski Team.

In the boys’ 11/12 division, Sierra had two top-10 finishers: Grant Swift finished fourth (1:36.38) and Alan Smolgovsky placed eighth (1:39.42.) Also finishing strong in a field of 41 was Alex Murray in 18th (1:48.52.)

The sole girls’ 11/12 finisher for Sierra also produced a top-10 finish: Rosemarie McDonough placed ninth in 1:48.06.

In the boys’ 13/14 division, all three of Sierra’s racers finished in the top 10: Alec Lambres captured third (1:32.87), Tyler Cottrill was fourth (1:33.04) and Samuel Neill skied to sixth (1:37.96).

Sierra’s three 15-and-up boys also finished in the top 10, with Nolan Leupp topping the podium with the day’s fastest combined time of 1:18.90. Reid Lambres finished second (1:22.80) and Matthew Murray came in fourth (1:26.07.)

In the girls’ 13/14, Katie Sears finished 10th with a time of 1:37.24, and teammate Kailey Killeen placed 17th with a time of 1:46.90.

In the younger divisions that raced on Sunday, Sierra had three racers represented in the boys’ 9/10 division finishing well in a field of 66. Weston Swift was 11th (1:25.67), Stephan Drugan claimed 15th (1:26.84) and Aidan Danagher took 16th (1:26.90.)